Jason Reitman | Fox Searchlight

With two feature films under his belt, Jason Reitman has established himself as an original, smart and funny storyteller known for his keen pitch-perfect satirical commentaries on our society.

He made his feature film directing debut with the 2006 hit THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, based on the acclaimed novel by Christopher Buckley, which Reitman adapted for the screen. The film had its world premiere at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival, where it was acquired by Fox Searchlight. The film went on to screen at the 2006 Sundance and SXSW Film Festivals, and earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture and an Independent Spirit Award for best screenplay and a WGA nomination for best adapted screenplay. In 2006, Reitman was named best debut director by the National Board of Review and U.S. Comedy Arts

Reitman was born in Montreal on October 19, 1977. He was on his first film set (ANIMAL HOUSE) 11 days later. The son of director Ivan Reitman, he spent most of his childhood on or around film sets. At 15, the budding filmmaker made an AIDS public service announcement with actors from his high school that went on to win awards and play on network television.

At age 19, his first short film, OPERATION, a comedy about kidney stealing, premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. This began a string of shorts, including H@ (premiered at SXSW 1999), IN GOD WE TRUST (premiered at Sundance 2000, went on to play Toronto, Edinburgh, New Directors/New Films and won best short at many fests including Los Angeles, Aspen, Austin, Seattle, and Florida), GULP (premiered at Sundance 2001), and CONSENT (premiered at Aspen 2004). Reitman’s short films have played in over a hundred film festivals worldwide.
Reitman has directed commercials through Tate USA since 2001. He has received honors from the Cannes commercial awards, the Addys, as well as the One Show. Clients include Miller Light, Heineken, Honda, Nintendo, BMW, Kyocera, Asics, GM, and Burger King.

In the wake of the success of SMOKING Reitman and his producing partner, Daniel Dubiecki, formed a new production company, Hard C, based at Fox Searchlight. Hard C is developing a number of projects, including BONZAI SHADOWHANDS with Rainn Wilson and the spec script THE ORNATE ANATOMY OF LIVING THINGS. Hard C will also produce, alongside Mason Novick, JENNIFER'S BODY, Diablo Cody's latest script, for Fox Atomic. Production is planned to start early 2008.